| 释义 |
▪ I. props, n. pl. Theatrical slang.|prɒps|
[Short for properties.]
1. a. Stage requisites: see property 3.
1841Spirit of Times 16 Oct. 396/2 There we subsisted by spouting, not Shakespeare, but our dresses and props. 1854E. L. Blanchard Diary 22 Nov. in Scott & Howard Life E. L. Blanchard (1891) I. 125 Go to Drury; see props. 1865Slang Dict., Props, stage properties. 1883Referee 6 May 3/2 At the Theatre Royal..the scenery and props were sold by auction. 1885J. K. Jerome On the Stage 32 It was..the property room, the things therein being properties, or, more commonly ‘props’, so called, I believe, because they help to support the drama. Ibid. 46 Scenery and props were not being used at this, the first, rehearsal.
b. A familiar name for a property-man or the props department.
Quot. 1831 may be an example of prop n.5
1831P. Egan Show Folks 23 ‘Good Houses’ now to make him right, The Treasury to swell: The Actors [sic] need—the Props delight—And ‘All's well, that ends well!’ 1889New York Trib. 14 July (Cent.), The property-man, or, as he is always called, props for short. 1902Patterson & Bateman By Stage Door 192 While he was ‘Props’ he was discharged..for not yelling ‘fire!’ at the right time. 1921Galsworthy Six Short Plays 128, I want ‘Props’. Ibid. (stage-direction) ‘Props’ goes out through the French windows. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage iv. 48 No self-respecting ‘Props’ will spend a penny on new materials if odd scraps will serve. 1976M. Maguire Scratchproof ii. 23 What do you think of our tack-room interior? Have props done a good job?
c. as sing. a stage property.
1911C. Pollock Footlights 257 By-play with small articles, rehearsed twenty times, is blundered over when the player finds the ‘prop’ actually in his hands. 1961M. Catto Mister Moses iii. 80 The stage had been set—it awaited the last theatrical prop. 1976Early Music Oct. 394/1 Each tableau, step, gesture, prop and lighting-cue must arise from necessity and have its effect at once. 1978Listener 23 Mar. 366/3 Ronnie Barker's face..is,..as with all true comedians, his best prop.
2. transf.
1898A. M. Binstead Pink 'Un & Pelican vi. 146 And when at last the day came for him to go, he ‘collected his props’, as he called getting his belongings together, most reluctantly. 1926Publishers' Weekly 10 July 120/1 Woodard-Clarke's [window-display]..took a middle course between the painted background route and the ‘props’ of nature. The clear blue sky was conveyed by blue cloth of chiffon-like texture. 1948M. Gilbert They never looked Inside iii. 35 Have a cigarette? They are part of the office props. 1976S. Barstow Right True End iii. xiv. 224 A shot of me standing on a stone pier beside a whelk-stall, holding a huge crab by one claw. It must have been dead, lent to me as a prop by some kindly stall-holder.
3. attrib. and Comb.
a. props department, props girl, props man; props room = property room s.v. property n. 8 b.
b. Formed with the sing., as prop boy, prop girl, prop man; prop basket = property box 2; prop table (see quot. 1964); prop wagon, a property wagon (see quot.).
1952Granville Dict. Theatr. Terms 144 It is the traditional boast of an old actor that he was born in a prop basket in the prompt corner.
1935Motion Picture Nov. 38 Colman, who was off in a corner talking with a prop boy, heard her. 1960K. A. Ommanney Stage & School v. xv. 413 All movable articles are stored in the props department. 1970R. Leach Theatre for Youth i. v. 43 Masks properly belong to the props department.
1964E. Crampton Handbk. Theatre 260 These tables are the direct responsibility of the prop-girl. 1977S. Brett Star Trap iii. 31 There's always the stage staff... Nothing like a warm little props girl to comfort a chap.
1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §605/12 Property man,..prop man. 1951in H. Downs Theatre & Stage II. 818/2, I once knew a ‘props’ man who was..a marvel. 1971Esquire July 88/3 We were watching the prop men lug the elephant tubs and the chimp- and lion-act furniture. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xxviii. 323 Script-girls, secretaries, studio accountants, cameramen, propmen, the technical crews, the actors and actresses, the directors and even the producers.
1957Props room [see balloon n.1 6 c]. 1977C. Wood James Bond xii. 103 This place..was like the props room of a folded theatrical company.
1939Burris-Meyer & Cole Scenery for Theatre xiii. 390 Prop table, left. 1964E. Crampton Handbk. Theatre 260 Prop tables, tables set in the wings..for properties to be taken on and brought off-stage during a performance.
1927Hollis St. Theatre Progr. (Boston) 19 Sept. Gloss., Prop wagon, wagon for transporting paraphernalia and equipment used on carnival.
▪ II. props
gambling game with shells: see prop n.4 |